5 Tips to Cooking with Chocolate

When it comes to dessert, chocolate is a perfect pleasure. Choose it and it’ll cheer you up, lifting up even the worst of moods. Take dark chocolate after dinner and the serotonin content in it can turn your bad day into a joy evening. Besides, the ingredient promises several health benefits.

Do you fall into the group of people who don’t enjoy dessert with no chocolate? Whether you’re a cake, cookie, brownie, or chocolate-dipped candy lover, Alice Medrich tips can help you prepare awesome treats at home. There’s no better individual to learn from when it comes to the sweet ingredient than the chocolate queen.

Alice has written countless books on cooking with chocolate. Her tricks and tips are more than one can count. Whatever treat you love baking, here are the things to keep in mind while working with chocolate to produce a more flavorful and better dessert.

Tip #1: Melt Chocolate Using a Water Bath

There’s no better way to melt your chocolate than to use a water bath. With this method, you can see whatever is happening. You also gain more control over the process as compared to other methods of melting. Moreover, it’s less likely that you’ll burn the chocolate as compared to when you’re using a microwave or a double boiler.

Tip #2: Know When to Melt and When to Temper

There’s a difference between melting and tempering your sweet ingredient. The two processes manipulate your chocolate in different ways. When adding the ingredient to a recipe, it’s better to stick to melting. However, when you want to use the chocolate as a coating for candies and cookies, tempering is the best bet.

Tip #3: Chop Chocolate with a Long Saw-Edged Knife

If you buy heavy bars or big chunks of your ingredient from Santa Barbara Chocolate, it can be such a task to break it down into sizes that are suitable for a recipe. It becomes even more difficult if you want to get small, even-sized slices for uniform melting. Fortunately, a long saw-edged knife can make your work easier and faster. 

Just place the chocolate on your cutting board and start from one end to cut the bars in a rocking motion with the knife. For melting, ensure that the pieces are small and even enough so they can melt evenly.

Tip #4: Get the Secret of Espresso

Are you making something chocolaty? Whether it’s chocolate mousse, crinkle cookies, fudge, or brownies, there’s a very simple trick that you can utilize to up the flavor of your recipe. The secret ingredient is espresso. A shot or two are enough to enhance the chocolate without putting in a strong coffee taste. Extra-dark coffee can also do great.

Tip #5: Don’t Use Chocolate Chips for Melting Option

Keep chocolate chips in the pantry unless your recipe specifically requires them. Instead, use the real ingredient especially when melting it. The format of chips is for holding their shape. Therefore, there are better choices when you are preparing a recipe that calls for melted chocolate.

Conclusion

Preparing high-quality chocolate dessert requires you to apply a number of tricks and tips. The best way to chop and melt your ingredient makes your work easier, faster, and efficient. Similarly, knowing when to use certain forms of your ingredient and various procedures is also key to achieving the best results.